Leftward Skid

So far, the main political beneficiaries of the revolt that ousted Dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez last January are Venezuela's Communists. Operating freely since the revolt, they showed their power by leading the spit-and-stone attacks on Vice President Nixon. Last week, in the embarrassed aftermath of the riot, Venezuela's leftward skid split the ruling five-man junta--but left the Reds uncurbed.

Oddly enough, Dictator Perez Jimenez gave the Communists their head start. He chased the leaders of the three major political parties into exile, shot or tortured many of their lieutenants, smashed their organizations. But he only pretended to persecute Communists. He exiled wealthy, suave Gustavo Machado, boss of one of the party's factions, but permitted others to stay in business. Reds continued to dominate the Waiters, Bartenders and Hotel Employees Union; in return, many of its members spied for the dictatorship. So long as they collaborated, the Communists were free to spread their influence; when Perez Jimenez fell, they were ready to move quickly.

Home from exile, Machado carefully nurtured the notion that the Communists were a respectable domestic political party rather than part of a subversive international movement. The three military members of the junta, led by Rear Admiral Wolfgang Larrazabal, gave the Reds free rein on the idealistic theory that checking them would be undemocratic. But after Nixon's life was endangered by Red-led mobs, the junta's two civilians, Eugenio Mendoza and Bias Lamberti, resigned in protest over the easy treatment of Communists.

To replace them, Larrazabal chose two moderate civilians: Treasury Minister Arturo Sosa and Junta Secretary Edgard Sanabria. And, to help gloss over the reasons for the junta split, he announced at week's end the enactment of the long-awaited law laying down ground rules for elections next November.

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